QUOTE OF THE DAY "The people of England have been led in Mesopotamia into a trap from which it will be hard to escape with dignity and honor. They have been tricked into it by a steady withholding of information. The Baghdad communiques are belated, insincere, incomplete. Things have been far worse than we have been told, our administration more bloody and inefficient than the public knows. It is a disgrace to our imperial record, and may soon be too inflamed for any ordinary cure. We are today not far from a disaster...How long will we permit millions of pounds, thousands of Imperial troops, and tens of thousands of Arabs to be sacrificed on behalf of colonial administration which can benefit nobody but its administrators?" - - Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence (August 22, 1920) This legendary British military officer was better known as "Lawrence of Arabia" KNOW YOUR HISTORY - JULY 13th 1798 -- Federalist-sponsored Sedition Act made it a crime to write, utter or publish "any false, scandalous, & malicious" statements about the U.S. Government, Congress, or the President. Leading Republicans throughout the country were promptly arrested. 1979 -- Nicaragua: Anti-Somocista popular revolution successful; no apologies to the US government, CIA & other avid supporters of the dictator. RHINO HERE: Today's Quote Of The Day was brought to my attention by Senator Robert Byrd who used it to begin his most recent communique to the nation. Entitled, "We Must Ask the World for Help on Iraq", in it, the good Senator points out how, "The tragic failure of the Administration's efforts to build international support before launching its impatient rush towards war against Iraq is now bearing its bitter, bitter fruit." Specifically that the shrub gang is having a hard time finding 20,000 peacekeeping forces to assist the hundreds of thousands of American troops who are in harms way and being picked off daily. So much for a "coalition of the willing." The Senator's appeal is today's RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE. But first a couple excerpts & links of articles providing excellent back ground on shrub's trip to Africa: The Two Faces of George Bush in Africa By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman President Bush is doing a barnstorming tour of Africa to call attention to his administration's commitment to addressing the HIV/AIDS pandemic on the continent. One problem: He's simultaneously trying to impose on African countries enhanced patent protections that would undermine their ability to gain access to affordable medicines... IT'S ALL AT: http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/corp-focus/2003/000156.html AFRICA ACTION - Africa Policy E-Journal July 3, 2003) US/Africa: More than a Trip? With President Bush scheduled to depart on Monday for five days in five African countries, it is still unclear whether African realities will force the presidential party and press coverage to confront substantive issues, or whether the White House will succeed in focusing attention on spin and symbolism. "Is this for real or is this tourism?," former Reagan administration assistant secretary of state for Africa Chester Crocker asked last week at a Brookings Institution forum. The most immediate challenge is now coming from demands that the U.S. make a substantive leadership contribution to multilateral peacekeeping efforts in Liberia (see separate posting later today on this issue, including background on how previous U.S. policy failures contributed to the decades of conflict in Liberia).. THIS IN DEPTH COVERAGE OF shrub's AFRICA POLICIES IS POSTED AT: More Than a Trip?
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